As workmen left the Holman CompAir factory for the last time on Christmas Eve, there were hopes that a new era for engineering in Camborne was about to begin.

As the gates closed, two manufacturing companies announced they were setting up on the site, both offering jobs to former CompAir staff.

The line of just under 50 employees that left the site on Christmas Eve was just a fraction of the 3,000 strong workforce that dominated the town during the company's 202-year trading history.

Car parts manufacturer Quaife Engineering, from Kent, and Scottish firm OEM Fabrications are now taking on the challenge opening for business on Monday.

Quaife are taking on 12 former CompAir employees with the possibility of more in the future. Manager will be Paul Doble who will be returning home having worked for CompAir for 39 years before moving to Quaife in Kent.

OEM will take on 20 former CompAir workers.

The news of two companies moving to Camborne follows a last-minute deal brokered by the CPR Regeneration Company, the Regional Development Agency and English Partnerships who, in an unprecedented move, have also bought all the equipment at the site and will lease it to the two firms concerned.

David Brewer, chairman of CPR Regeneration, said: "CPR Regeneration said it was a new delivery force and we are delivering - in this case further high value engineering jobs. We are determined to build on the high-class engineering skills in the area to create a cluster of modern, niche engineering enterprises.

"With skills available, and with a capacity to bring the public and private sectors together as we have done, advanced engineering has a future in Camborne, even if not on the scale of employment as in the past. Together we can grow."

Quaife became famous during the 1960s and 1970s for the manufacture of racing components for motorcycles, but have since turned their efforts to car transmissions.

Director Mike Quaife said the Camborne operation will help fulfil orders with car giants Daimler-Chrysler. He hoped to expand production in Camborne when new contracts were secured.

Harry Miller, managing director and part-owner of OEM said: "We are thrilled to be coming to Camborne where there are top class skills that any go-ahead engineering company would build on. We have already interviewed 20 highly qualified engineers to start production in early January and I am optimistic that we can grow with the market."

For the staff of the former CompAir factory it is the end of an era. Fitter Dave Gilbert, who joined the company as an apprentice straight from school, clocked up 32 years of service. He told the Packet he could remember the days when people would not come into town between 1pm and 2pm for fear of being "swept along by the sea of blue overalls" making their way to lunch.

"I shed a few tears when I left. Holmans was my life. The plant used to be the heart of Camborne. Its closure is the end of an era," he said. "When I joined, I thought I had a job for life. I would have retired there if they hadn't closed down."

CompAir Holman announced its plans to move production to Germany last May after a series of takeovers that had seen the plant's workforce dwindle and much of its assets sold off.